


As the feather stings my eye

by Felidae5



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Blood and Violence, F/M, Gore, Horror, M/M, Past Lives, Slow Burn, Violetshipping, slightly AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2020-12-17 06:56:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21050183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Felidae5/pseuds/Felidae5
Summary: Strange deaths begin to occur in Domino City. As the investigation draws its web tighter, one blond teen finds himself entangled in the center. Is he the cause or just another victim? And how does Kaiba Seto come into play? Or is there someone entirely different pulling the strings?





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally started for the HHH challenge over at the discontinued Dragon's Lair, here is one fom the vault. Unfinished, so far, but I have high hopes to complete it sooner than later.

1

_„Never mind when or where, I will find you, my love.“_

The hurried steps were merely interrupted by the frantic breathing and occasional sobs as the tall figure made its way through downtown Domino, the waning moon every so often glancing through the stormy clouds.  
But the young man had no eyes for the beauty of the nightly sky nor did the moon take any interest in the happenings below.  
Turning a corner, the youth paused for a moment to catch his breath, then dove into the next alley-  
Dark, humongous, with eyes like bloodied silver, his persuer stood before him, a carnal smile on his deformed features. A terrified scream escaped the fleeing man’s throat as he threw himself around and tried to escape in vain.   
“No, please, no, don’t, merci, please, mer-“   
His cries were cut off abruptly, as four long, razorsharp claws dug into his back and tore it wide open and he fell sideways on the concrete.   
Large, predatory eyes lingered upon him, and his heart clenched in fear as he saw the hatred burning within those crimson orbs. His assailant rose to his full height and declared,   
”No more shall you disrespect your superiors.”  
The last thing Kawazaki Juutako saw were the glistening claws descending towards his heart.

Kaiba Seto awoke with a start.  
His body was sweat-covered, his heart was beating irratically and there was a strange taste in his mouth. With a groan, the young CEO sat upright in his bed and buried his face in his palms. For the past couple of months, always when the moon would begin to wane, he would find himself entangled within strange, horrifying dreams, nightmares really. He couldn’t recall anything of their content, but there was something constant in all of his dreams: a presence, a figure hidden amongst the shadows that plagued him every night, which silenced his fear with a calm, soothing voice, a promise of trust and comfort.  
The brunet scowled and shook his head. He had an important board meeting in six hours, and couldn’t bother with fathoms and dreams, but needed to be fresh and sharp for the conference. Absent-mindedly, he drove his tongue over his teeth-and barely supressed a gag.  
Disgusting. Whatever he had been dreaming about had obviously affected his taste buds, leaving him with a sticky, salty feeling in his mouth. His frown deepened as he slipped from beneath the comforter and padded into the adjunctant bathroom where he turned on the light and, blinking, reached for a glass. As he poured himself some water, his glance fell upon his image-  
The glass fell from his nerveless fingers and shattered on the rim of the sink into a myriad splinters, but Kaiba never noticed. Instead, his gaze was transfixed on his reflection, not really believing his eyes.  
His lips, his entire mouth until down to his chin was caked with dried blood, he had scratches starting at his collarbones and trailing all the way down to his belly button, where they vanished beneath the waistband of his pajama pants.  
Underneath his perfectly manicured fingernails there were scraps of tissue and more of the flaky, brown-red substance. 

“Oh gods!” Kitamura Suichi, second commissioner-in-chief and the newcomer on the homicide department, grimaced.  
“What happened here? A massacre?”  
The chief coroner, Toyozawe by name, shrugged.  
“I have no idea. Taking in consideration his body temperature and the fact that the night was rather cool, I would say he has been dead for about,”   
he checked his watch,   
”six hours. Looks as if he was attacked by a bear or something.” His tone implied that he highly doubted that possibility.  
Kitamura frowned, then scratched his head.  
“A bear? What kind of bear would got through the trouble of systematically eviscerating a human and smash in their head without eating them?”   
Toyozawe merely shook his head.  
“A connaisseur, by the looks of it.”   
His grey eyes locked with Kitamura’s pale brown ones.  
“Whatever it was tore open the victim’s ribcage, cracked its skull and removed all vital organs. It didn’t touch them but left the body as it was, safe for one piece. The heart is missing.”  
Kitamura’s face turned expressionless, when he realized what Toyozawa was hinting at.  
“No details to nobody, you hear? We’ll tell the media we’re assuming that there’s a bear on the prowl and give out respective safety standards and double the forces on the night patrols. If anything leaks out, I’ll hold you personally responsible.”   
Toyozawa, who had heard this threat more than once in his three decades of duty, merely nodded and resumed his gruesome work.

“-body of Kawazaki Juutako was found in the Kuruma alley not far from Domino Park. According to the police, a bear is responsible for this latest tragedy, although there are rumors o-“  
Jounouchi Katsuya turned off the radio with an erratic swipe of his hand, then yawned and turned on his other side. He hated mornings. All the noise and traffic and trouble and school and work-oh yeah, and let’s not forget his enemy number one, Kaiba Seto.  
What reason was there for him to get up anyway? An almost indescirnable slur coming from the bedroom across the hall gave him all the reasons he needed: anything was better than to spend the day locked in their three-rooms flat with his disgruntled father.  
Jou gave a mute sigh as he threw the thin blanket aside and attempted to stand up-  
The next thing he knew was him kneeling on the cheap, stained carpet covering the hardwood floor of his room, clutching his chest painfully and trying as best he could to get some air into his lungs.  
Perfect. Not enough that it was way too early for his liking, now he had to deal with a beginning pneumonia as well. Clenching his teeth, Jou carefully rose and made his way into the tiny bathroom to get the heater started before he showered. The hot water would surely help.

As he listened to the water gurgle and bubble in the boiler, the blond went to the task of brushing his teeth, when he noticed a shadow out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head around, he came to face the closed door, hanging as innocently and askew in its hinges as ever.  
Still, superstitious as he was, Jou couldn’t shake the slight feeling of being watched, as he squeezed the last remainers of toothpaste on his brush and gazed at his image on the freckled glass surface before him.  
Instincts, honed in countless streetfights, took over and made short process of the mirror, even before Jou’s terrified scream had left his throat.  
Not a minute later his father came boasting through the door, a broken umbrella in one hand, ready to kill whatever intruder had attacked his son. Faced with the shattered mirror, the shaking form of the blond pressed snug to the opposite wall and the overall mess, his anger was quickly directed towards his misfortunate offspring.  
“What the hell is going on here? What’s gotten into you, you godforsaken brat? Are you outta your mind? You-“   
His words died on his lips, when the blond turned to look at his father. The elder man had ofter seen nervosity, fear, yes even panic in those honey eyes, more than once had he been the cause of pain, anger and disappointment, but never had he met such an emptiness in Katsuya’s eyes.  
Nor had he ever been faced with a gaze of such utter terror.  
Baffled, he dropped his make-shift weapon and reached out for the boy’s shoulder, suspicion clearly written on his face.  
“You’re not into drugs now, are you? I told you that there is no place in my house for junk-“  
A surprised yelp escaped the elder Jounouchi as he made contact with Katsuya’s skin. The kid was burning up with a fever! Worriedly, he studied his son, then rumbled,   
“You should stay home, Katsuya, you’re in no shape for work or school.”  
The aforementioned one blinked, then shook his head timidly.  
“No-no, I’ll be fine. School’s warmer. Work’s warmer. I’ll-I’ll just try to take it easy. No prob.”  
His father was not convinced. Giving the teen a closer look, he asked,   
“You sure?”  
Jou merely nodded, and his father left the bathroom, not without a last, worried glance at the blond as he closed the door behind him. Waiting to make sure his father was out of hearing range, Jou then cautiosly stepped towars the sink.  
The jaded porcelain bassin was littered with shards of various sizes, and Jou picked up one. The sharp edge pricked his skin, and the blond watched in mute fascinaion, how the crimson driplet slid across the piece of glass and fell into the sink. Had he looked down at that very moment, Jou would have noticed how the splinters reflected the images of cimson eyes, claws, a deformed beak and-feathers.   
Shaking his head as if waking from a bad dream, Jou placed the single shard on the rim of the sink and finally made his way to the shower stall.   
Behind him, in the sink, the shards began to move, slowly, silently, to form a giant eye.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°  
For this story I decided to write Jounouchi senior not as a complete asshole. Rare, I know, but every once in a while I think it's refreshing.  
And yes, Japan does have wild bears, though these usually roam the mountains and National Parks and hardly ever come down to the big cities or coastal areas.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, should have warned you ahead that we're starting off with a murder scene. No hard feelings, ne?

2

He felt..uneasy.  
Kaiba couldn’t tell why, but something didn’t feel right. It was as if he was being constantly watched and this made him nervous and irate. Not as much as his counselors had this morning, but still…  
Shaking off the strange felling, the young CEO marched through the hall, stopped at his locker to change into his shoes and then proceed down the aisle to his classroom.  
As he entered, his mood lifted for a second as he saw his favourite chewtoy sitting at his desk and he prepared for his usual mocking greet. However, the somber faces of everyone present made him swallow the insult lingering on his tongue and instead ask,  
“What happened here, a surprise test? Or did the school board decide to reveal the secret of the styropor bubbles they call meatballs?”  
It was Yuugi who answered,  
“Juutako was killed last night. They think it was a bear, but are not sure about it.”  
Kaiba’s frown became somewhat more quizzical as he sat down at his usual desk.  
“Juutako? Which Juutako?”  
Why did that name ring a bell? Honda stared at him, as if the CEO had grown a second head.  
“Hello? Kawazaki Juutako? They guy you got into a fight with yesterday?”  
The other brunet snorted.  
“Ridiculous. The only person dense enough to try to get into a fight with me is the inu. Speaking of which, I do hope you went to the veterinary to get your shots as I requested you to do. I would hate to catch anything just because you happen to be in the same room with me.”  
He flashed his most carnal grin-and barely managed to swallow his gasp, when the feeling of being under close scrutiny returned a thousandfold. It took all he had to keep his grin firmly in place when Jou shot him a glare and growled,  
“You’re pretty insensitive, y’ know that? One of us was killed last night and you’re acting as if nothing happened. No wonder nobody likes you.”  
Kaiba scowled, then cracked a smile, sharp as a razor’s edge.  
“I will have you know that there are plenty of people who take a great liking in me.”  
Jou cocked a brow.  
“You, your money or your company?”  
Not waiting for an answer, the blond leaned back in his chair and, folding his arms behind his head, mused,  
“Still makes one wonder, ne? Yesterday Juutako got on your bad side and this morning the poor guy shows up dead.”  
Everybody present drew a sharp breath, even as Kaiba slowly, deliberately rose from his chair and stalked over to where Jou sat. Towering over the shorter teen, he rasped,  
“I do not like what you are implying, Jounouchi.” The blond gave a semi-smirk.  
“I’m not implying anything, I’m just…wondering. And trying to figure out how long I still got to live once I manage to _really_ piss you off.”  
The brunet balled his fists tight enough to turn the knuckles white, not in anger, but in alarm. Something was very, very wrong here. Since when was he the one not able to keep his temper in check? And why was Jounouchi acting so..so callous? For a moment, their eyes met, and Kaiba felt a cold hand close around his heart when a voice whispered inside his mind,  
_“It was not always like this, Seto. Remember.”_  
A sudden wave of vertigo and the brunet felt himself assaulted by a whirlwind of memories, snapshots really, of a past he could not recall. There was trust, love, betrayal, fear, the stench of death and rivers and rivers of blood, all mingled to form a tragic tale, the story of a life before this.  
“Ara, Kaiba-kun, you okay?”  
came a timid, concerned voice, and just like that, the mental onslaught ended, and Kaiba found himself back in class and being the center of attention, the other pupils regarding him worriedly. Blue eyes wandered unseeing over the teens assembled, ears deaf to Yuugi’s repeated question about his wellbeing, but all senses of the brunet trained in on one Jounouchi Katsuya who sat there, the same expression of concern on his face as everyone else.  
His eyes however, had taken on a darker, almost redish hue, and Kaiba felt a chill running up his spine, when he recognized the darkness which had been haunting his dreams for the past several months. Azure orbs narrowed into navy slits, as he hissed between clenched teeth,  
“In future, just stay the hell away from me.”  
With that, he swerved and returned to his place, praying to any deity he didn’t believe in that the words had come out as threat and not sounded like the plea it had been.  
For the rest of the day, he was left in peace, but the feeling of being watched didn’t abate.

Jou didn’t feel good.  
Actually, he felt like shit.  
The entire day had been a real pain in the ass, what with his growing cold, the sudden death of a classmate and Kaiba’s strange behaviour, not to mention the interrogation the police had insisted upon.  
But that was nothing compared to the strange things which had been happening on campus and at work:  
While lunchbreak, when he sat outside beneath a tree with his friends enjoying his meal, a crow had come sailing towards them and landed next to him. Jou, not thinking much of it, had given it a crumb of his sandwich and returned his attention back to his friends. Some time later, more out of boredom than real curiousity, he had glanced over his shoulder to see if the bird still sat there, and seen instead of one five of them sitting there, staring at him as if he were a particularly delicious beetle.  
Somewhat unnerved, Jou had told them to scatter and the crows had followed suit. Without uttering a single tone, the flock had taken off as one, not to be seen again.  
Jou had chalked it of as a pure coincidence, a twist of fate, until he had opened his locker and found the black feather in his shoe. Asking around if this had been some kind of joke, he was unpleasantly surprised to find out that no one knew anything about it.  
When he had finally made his way to work, there was another craw sitting on the fence next to the door as if it had waited for him. More than a little creeped out, the blond had shooed it away, and again, the bird had done as told.  
It had continued like this all the evening and well into the night; wherever he had gone, one of the black-feathered animals had shown up, just to vanish as soon as he had shouted at it to leave him be. It highly unsettled him.  
Jounouchi had a great dislike for craws, and the fact that they followed his every order gave him goosebumps. Craws were not supposed to act like this.  
And never mind how often he had told himself that they were but common birds, Jou couldn’t help the feeling that these craws had a deeper, darker intelligence than any other birds he had ever met.  
For good luck, he had made it home unscathed and could finally get some much needed rest.  
The moment he closed his lids, however, the nightmare began.

As he felt the pain racing through his chest, he placed a last, chaste kiss upon his love’s now still lips and whispered:  
„Never mind when or where, I will find you, my love.“

Sapphire eyes snapped wide open.  
Not for the first time had those words woken him from the worsest of nighmares, but something was different this time. Finally he had recognized the voice, it was the same which would assure him that everything would turn out for the best, when a particularly terrifying nightmare threw him into the clutches of despair and pain. And now he could even give the voice a face rather than it being but a bodyless whisper.  
The image of a young, beautiful nobleman flashed through his mind- a descendant from the late Muromachi period taken by his clothing- who had shown up in his darest of tribulations and come to his, Kaiba’s, aid. It was not as if he had said or done anything, but his appearance, his mere presence gave the brunet the strength to fight whatever demons he had faced. Although he had felt no malice directed towards him, Kaiba had still been wary about the other one, there was something about this man that had made him uneasy.  
And it had nothing to do with the fact that the sadness reflected in the other one’s eyes had seemed eerily familiar.  
The CEO gave a mute snort, as he turned and checked his wake-up. Two thirty am. The night sky was adorned with stars, their light cold and distant, yet strong, since the moon had reached its waning crescent.  
Kaiba frowned anew, then settled himself and was fast asleep, before he knew it.  
And the dream started all over again.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°  
Side note: while most other birds are reffered to as _flocks_ when appearing in groups, the original English naming for a cluster of craws is _murder_. Go figure.


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back again, and this time with a glimpse into the past. Enjoy.
> 
> ~* past happenings

3

~*In the distance, a flock of crows shot up into the air and dispersed across the velvety night sky, in which the stars danced solitary before the new moon’s dark circle.  
Their cries seemed to mock the corpse shrouded from his sight and the gruesome fate it had endured.  
A mute sigh parted the observer’s lips and he muttered a silent prayer for the poor soul which had found such a terrible death, before heading back towards the main entrance. Alas, the sound of approaching steps and hushed voices halted his movement.  
“Heika! Heika! Please, a moment, but a moment of your precious time, Matsushige-sama! We bring important news concerning the wellbeing of your community.”   
This time the sigh was audible, as the daymio faced his guard.   
“You have permission to speek freely.”  
The guard bowed, then babbled,  
“There has been another killing in the woods, same as the others! The victim is the town major’s nephew, and Shimura-san is enraged!”  
“Devastated would be more befitting a word, after all, my cousin was next in line to ascend the family throne” hissed a low, soft voice. Matsushige Tatsuo turned his eyes upon the speaker, even as his guard snapped,   
“How dare you adress his lordship without being granted permission! Why I ought-“ “Enough.”   
Matsushige’s voice lacked the sharpness which normaly accustomed such an order, and the guard shrank back in confusion. His peer merely hinted a nod.   
“I appreciate your concern for my person, but rest assured, in this particular case your sense of duty is, although welcome, unnecessary. Now, my dear Satomi,”   
he turned to the young woman standing in respectful distance from the step leading to his porch,   
“what brings you to my house?”  
She bowed, low enough to call it respectful but too curt to be considered polite. Matsushige ignored that fact as much as the sharp inhale of his guard. Keeping her head downcast but standing upright, Satomi muttered,   
“I have come in lieu of my father, since my cousin’s untimely death has taken its toll on his health. But I do not stand here only for my family, but for all the people in the village, and we would like to know, what are your plans? What are you going to undertake to avoid any more murders?”  
Matsushige gave a small wave of his hand, and the guard retreated into the house. With an inviting gesture, the daymio mumbled,   
“Let us take a walk through the gardens. My walls tend to have ears.”  
She frowned, but wordlessly obeyed.  
As they walked side by side, she couldn’t help but feeling both intimidated and impressed by his mere presence, although her pride did not allow her to show it. Passing beneath one of the many cherry trees scattered about the estate, the girl finally broke the silence.  
“Well, what are you going to do?”  
Her companion smiled sadly.  
“What is it that you would like me to do?”   
She stopped and her head snapped around, her temper flaring.  
“Do not take this lightly, Matsushige-sama! This has been the eight killing in less than three months, and ignoring the problem will not solve anything! If we do not take action as soon as possible, everyone, and not only the people from our village, but every living soul in the entire district will be annihilated!”  
The daymio drew back as if hit, and a look of utter despair crossed his handsome features. Regardless of his discomfort, Satomi continued,   
“For generations, your family has protected the villagers from all evil. Wars, ramsacking bandits, famine, epidemics, even the shogunate itself! But now that there is a tengu on the loose, you simply lay back and watch our people being murdered one by one without even trying to-“  
“What makes you think that there is a tengu behind all this?”   
interrupted Tatsuo harshly.   
“It could as well be a band of scavengers hiding in the woods, and sending warriors in without knowing their numbers or weaponry would mean sacrificing those brave mens’ lives!”   
He regretted his outburst the very minute his words left his mouth, for Satomi’s eyes grew distant and sad. Lowering her head, she hushed,   
”Please, Matsushige-sama, do not think me a fool. The rumors of a tengu protecting these forests and the lands surrounding them have been passed down from mouth to ear for generations. It is the only thing which makes sense.”  
She rose her head and looked the daymio straight in the eye. Taken aback by both her brazeness as well as her beauty, the young man could do nothing but listen to her speak.  
“Otou-san even summoned a souryo+, and he said he felt that the tengu was angered by something; what, he could not tell.”  
There was an uncomfortable silence between them, then Tatsuo replied,   
“And what am I to do about it? If it is indeed a tengu, it can not be killed by usual means, and never mind how many armed men I send, they will be but fodder for the beast. Or have you forgotten that tengu are not only masters of deception and magic, but of the sword as well?”  
Satomi stared at him, then gave a delicate, if not derisive snort.   
“I stood by the roadside when you lead your father’s men into battle against the shogunate. I waited by the temple for you to pass by when you heralded the search party and fought the ronin which had been terrorizing the neighbouring town and villages. They said, by the time you acclaimed your father’s seat, you had killed more than forty men in battle. And now you cower in fear of one single tengu?”  
Casting her eyes downwards again, the girl mumbled,   
“Why is it that you can fight an entire army, but are not capable of taking on one tengu?”  
Matsushige scowled.   
“Even if you were right, and it were but one single tengu, there is nothing I could do, precisely because it is a tengu. Despite all my skills, my experience, my influence or my riches, my possibilites are still limited. I have only _that_ much power.”  
Their eyes locked and again, the daymio couldn’t help but lose himself in those beautiful orbs which reflected the silvery light of the stars above them. Then Satomi bowed once more, deeply, and turned to leave, her voice but the softest of whispers on the wind,   
“Then you are without any power at all.”*~ 

It was cold, even for this time of the year.  
Jou couldn’t even shiver as fast as he froze, his teeth shattering against one another in an string of arrythmic staccatos.  
‘If only I were already be home, ‘he mused, ‘but no, my boss had to send me to the other end of town for the last delivery. Bastard.’  
So caught up in his thoughts, the blond almost missed the steps hurrying closer towards his location. His trained ears however picked up the soft skitter-skatter drawing nearer, and he paused his step, trying to determine from where his would-be persuer was coming.  
Southwest, and closing in fast.  
Almost too fast. Jounouchi frowned. Perhaps this guy was not on the chase, but on the run?  
Still, rather save than sorry, the blond hid himself in the nearest alley and held his breath, waiting to see if the person would run by or-  
“Finally! After all this time, I have found you!”  
The voice came directly from his right side; Jou yelled and stumbled backwards out of the small road, just to fall flat on his behind. He stared uncomprehending at the enormous figure looming above him, took in the black, sleek, armored suit, feathered shoulderpads and masked face and knew, he was a dead man.  
As if the realization had taken all fear with it, Jounouchi managed to think clearly-considering the circumstances-and, without doubt, he stated:  
“You. You were the one who sent those crows to me, ne?”  
His attacker cocked his head to one side, as if considering the possibility.  
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. It does not matter. For now I have found you and there will be no escape for you.”  
Clawed paws descended towards his face, and Jounouchi screamed.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°  
For this story, I decided to toy with the Japanese foklore and myth about the tengu. Some might no be familiar with these supernatural beings. There are two types of tengu; those wo are closely related to crows(kotengu 小天狗) and the more human ones with red faces and long, red noses(daitengu 大天狗). The name is derived from the Cinese word _Tiangou_, meaning _Heavenly Dog_, respectively _Heavenly Fox_.  
Being master of the swords and, according to some scholars, even patron saints of swordsmiths, they are often associated with comets and fireballs being spewn from active volcanoes, as well as mischief, mayhem and random illnesses, hence their demonisation. __

_ _For more info, go here:  
http://yokai.com/daitengu/  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengu  
https://www.univie.ac.at/rel_jap/kami/Tengu  
https://www.britannica.com/topic/tengu_ _


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sheesh, this didn't take long, huh? Just a little plot here, nothing too graphic or special..

4

Kitamura studied the face before him intently.  
“And you say, he was seven feet tall?”  
Jounouchi, who lay in the hospital bed, gave a small nod, but kept his eyes on the opposite wall.  
“Perhaps even seven point two. I suppose, he wore heeled boots or maybe inline skates. Something like that.”  
The commissioner frowned.  
“What makes you think so?” For the first time since the interrogation began, the blond turned his eyes to look at Kitamura and the elder man blinked.   
He knew Jou from the pictures in his police file, but the boy in the bed seemed to be an entirely different person. Wheras on the photographies there had been a wild, untamed fire burning within those golden orbs, like a constant, dangerous challenge, the eyes on the Jounouchi Katsuya before him were dull, disinterested and void of feelings.  
The commissioner had expected fear, nervousness, anger, pain, hatred, perhaps even denial or paranoia, but not this blatant indifference.  
“He was moving fast, too fast for someone with boots, and there was this strange, scratching noise, like, I don’t know, nails. Nails scratching over paper, only louder.”

Yuugi-tachi exchanged nervous glances, before resting their eyes back on the teacher, but never really leaving the blond in the second row out of their sight.  
Jounouchi had returned that very morning from spending three days in the hospital and four days at home after the attack. The police had interrogated him and now it was official:  
Domino City had a stalker, a monstrous, bloodthirsty murderer in disguise who apparently preffered young men.   
Curfews were handed out and the security level throughout the entire area was upped a solid thirty percent, but to no avail. There were no other assaults; however, an unsolved case from nigh on two months prior had too many parallels to the current incidents as to not be considered the first in a case of serial murders.  
A young man, by rumours a fledling yakuza, had been eviscerated and left to die on the peers near the yacht harbour, a place well-known for drug-pushers and their customers. Investigation revealed, that Serizawa Mikio, as he was named, was rumoured to have tried to infiltrate Kaiba Corp via the company's lesser associates. He by himself was not by any practical means a grand player, but the clan he ran with, was.  
It was one of the few mob families even Kaiba had to tread lightly to retain an oh-so-delicate balance, and suddenly, the game turned.  
Had the teenaged CEO demanded the pawn killed, because of a business deal gone awry?   
Had the wannabe mobster tried to get on to the brunet's good side by exploiting his family's secrets?   
Or had he actually been a spy, planted in Kaiba's proximity to snoop around in this one's private matters?  
Once again, the public's and police's attention shifted, and now Kaiba Seto found himself entangled in a web of suspicions and hearsay that spelled disaster, never mind which way he might attempt to tackle it.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°  
So, did Kaiba have the poor yakuza offed, because this one go too close for comfort? Or is the murder not really connected to Kaiba, but just an unlucky coincidence? Time will tell...


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A glimpse into the past, before we..but read for yourselves.

5

*~A flutter of wings made him turn his head.  
There, perched on one of the stone lanterns designated to illuminate the garden paths by night, sat a large, intimidating crow sporting two red circles just behind its beak.  
Matsushige smiled gently, as he walked into his mansion and made his way towards his study. There, he sent his man servant away and, after making certain no one was listening in, went to open the window.  
In flew the crow, landing gracefully on the cedar wood floor, and then the transformation began.  
An unearthly glow emanated from the bird which grew and changed shape, even as arms and legs protruded from its everenlarging form.  
Wings, now large enough to span the room, flapped once before folding themselves on the back of the man standing there, imperious, demanding.  
Tatsuo's smile warmed, even as his eyes softened. Lips, brushed with ointment and plum wine, parted as he hushed,  
"Kon-ban wa, onii-sama. How have you been?"~*

It had been a bad day.  
Between the press conference, the director's board meeting and the police interrogation, Kaiba was just happy to be back in his mansion.  
Naturally, his PR manager had succeeded into making the people believe that neither his employer nor the company had any affiliation with the murdered youth, and Kaiba had had no problems convincing the board and investors as well.  
The police, however, had been an entirely different experience.  
Despite being handled with kid gloves, the CEO had been questioned again and again, until he himself had problems discerning what parts of his story were actually accurate and others mere recollections of agenda entries.  
By the time he left the police head quarters, three and-a-half hours had passed, the sun had long set and the brunet wanted nothing more than a late snack, a shower and to crawl into bed. He left his midnight blue Ford GT on the police station's parking lot for one of his drivers to pick up and took the limo home. He was too exhausted and ill-tempered to drive on his own at the moment.

Jounouchi Katsuya lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling of his darkened room.  
Listening to the faint tictoc of his ancient wake-up clock, he contemplated. Life, death, murder, coincidences, consequences, fate...  
Many a philosopher would have had an animated discussion with the young blond about any and all these rather crucial topics, but Jounouchi was but one single, lonely teenaged boy.  
The ticking resounded throughout the room.

Kaiba sighed, as he stepped into the adjacent bathroom of his office, the lights coming alive automatically.  
He couldn't help the horrified shriek that escaped his lungs, when he saw his reflection in the mirror. Mokuba, briefcase still in hand, came racing, took one glance at the image and threw the steel casket at the glass.  
It shattered, the mirage distorting and crumbling to the floor, to nothingness.  
"Nani o..what was that?" asked the preteen. His ani gulped down air.  
"You-you saw that?" he asked. Mokuba snorted.  
"No, I only threw the briefcase at the mirror because I always found it tacky. Kami-sama, what was that, o-nii-san?"  
Seto, back in working mode, let the possibilities run through his mind. Had he been the only one to see it, he could have chalked it off to lack of sleep and constant stress. The fact that Mokuba had witnessed it as well, however, led to some different, quite unsettling conclusions.  
"Call maintenance," he snapped," tell them to check the aerosol and aetheric oils of my office for any halluzinogenics."

The results were a rather unpleasent surprise. Neither the oils, the detergents used to clean any part of either Kaiba Tower, Kaiba Manor or any other place the brother frequented, contained any kind of psychedelic substances and neither had any of the windows, mirrors, screens or other projective media been tampered with.  
A complete screening of the boys' bodies came up negative, though they both showed extremely high levels of iron. But considering their age, that was neither reason for surprise nor alarm.  
Still, it left Kaiba with more questions than answers.

"Out of question."  
Six foot seven, one-hundred-and-fourteen kilos, big blue baby eyes and silverbrown hair. Eight-generation yakuza lord and entrepreneur par excellence Hamasaki Tsuyoshi was not per se a very powerful mob boss, but smart enough to seize every opportunity to strengthen his foothold over what little part of Domino he owned by swearing alliegiance to the right people and pissing the wrong ones off in their names.  
Such as he was doing Kaiba Seto right now.  
The young CEO had met with the fifty-something year old stock trader(that's what it read on his business card), about purchasing a certain area of southeast Domino. It was by no means fertile or even financially lucrative land from a real estate point of view. Its value lay plainly in its strategically ideal spot.  
Kaiba intended to connect both his in-home and official laboratories via a tunnel system. And while he could have made the detour around the plot in arguement, there was no point in digging through an extra sixty metres of bedrock, if there was an easier solution.  
A solution Hamasaki denied him with pleasure.  
And the best part of it was, there was not a thing either one could do about it, because the yakuza was legally prohibited to sell the ground for the very specific purpose Kaiba intended to use it for.  
"Please do understand, Kaiba-san," and he smiled with relish,   
"that in this case I am merely abiding to the law. And the law explicitely states that due to its close proximity to groundwater, the kind of construction you have in mind would be dangerous to both the enviroment as well as the water resources and thus the health of our fellow citizens."  
Kaiba bristled; while he was perfectly aware of the risks, his technicians had assured him that with some alterations having the tunnel built would cause at its worst a few obstacles. So this high-level drug pusher was really just being a prick about it, because he had the law on his side.  
Kaiba shot him another ice-filled glare, and Hamasaki returned it with a beaming smile.  
Considering the whole enviromentally concious trend the public was taking at the moment, trying to muscle his way through this kind of restriction would make for a very shoddy publicity stunt.   
Better to cut his losses than smashing his head against a brick wall. Stubborness only took one so far.

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Heh, couldn't resist Kaiba just for once not getting what he wants. At least for the moment.


End file.
